WORLD / Asia-Pacific
US may remove DPRK from terror list
(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-17 09:05
The United States is looking to build on momentum created by the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) shutting down its nuclear
reactor and will start deliberations on removing it from a list of
terrorism-sponsoring states, the main US envoy on the issue said
yesterday.
In an interview, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill laid out a
busy agenda for steps Washington hopes can be made in the reconciliation
process as Pyongyang lays aside its nuclear weapons program. That would
include talks on ending the 54-year-old cease-fire that halted the Korean
War, as well as setting up a regional security forum in Northeast Asia.
"If North Korea (DPRK) wants to denuclearize, all of this stuff is very
doable," Hill said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed yesterday that
the North had shut down its sole functioning nuclear reactor at Yongbyon
as it said it had done on Saturday, the first tangible progress from
years of arms negotiations involving the US and other regional powers.
"Our inspectors are there. They verified the shutting down of the reactor
yesterday," IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said in Bangkok ahead of an
event sponsored by Thailand's Science Ministry. "The process has been
going quite well and we have had good cooperation from North Korea. It's
a good step in the right direction."
The next moves come this week as Hill was set to travel today to Beijing
for consultations with the countries involved in the nuclear
negotiations: China, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas. Diplomats are to
discuss a timeframe for more progress, and Hill said he hoped that
Pyongyang's nuclear facilities would be disabled - meaning rendered
unable to be restarted - by the end of the year.
Negotiators also will discuss scheduling a meeting as soon as next month
between foreign ministers of all six nations, likely also in Beijing
ahead of an Asian-Pacific summit in Australia in early September.
He said the ministers' aim would be to issue a statement laying out the
vision for a northeast Asian forum "where it can deal with the problems
of trying to make this a better neighborhood."
Hill has frequently spoken of his aspiration that the six-nation talks
could lead to a more lasting security regime in the region where
countries have clashed over territorial, historical and military disputes.
Meeting a key DPRK demand, the United States is willing to start the
process of removing the North from a list of state sponsors of terrorism,
Hill said. "We'll see when we can complete that because we'll see how far
the North Koreans are prepared to move on denuclearization," he said.
The designation rankles the North and it has called for it to be lifted
along with other economic sanctions before it moves ahead on disarmament.
The DPRK government has not been directly tied to any terrorist action
since it planted a bomb on a South Korean plane in 1987.
Hill said talks on replacing the Korean War ceasefire with a peace regime
that would formally end the conflict could start next year "with
understanding that we can't complete that until we complete
denuclearization."
The United States fought with the South in the 1950-53 conflict that
ended in an armistice, leaving the sides still technically at war.
Alongside the total 1 million tons of oil the North is to receive for
disabling its nuclear programs, Hill said Washington would look at other
incentives such as humanitarian aid.
Agencies
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